# Non-US restaurants that fail at "American cuisine"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 25, 2009, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559 "2009-09-25T19:27:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/81 "2009-09-29T14:49:49Z")

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> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> Kimchee… Korean Ketchup.  
> Senf… German Ketchup  
> Curry Sauce- English Ketchup  
> Mayonaise- Belgian Ketchup  
> Fish Sauce- Thai Ketchup  
> Miso- Japanese Ketchup  
> Guacamole- Mexican Ketchup  
> …etc.
> 
> I’m sure there are a lot more, if you would care to name them?.. Even in '80’s Europe it was fairly difficult to find a bottle of real American Tomato Ketchup. European varieties are pale knock-offs.

Heinz is American, is it not? Heinz ketchup has been synomymous for “ketchup” and found absolutely everywhere here for my entire life, and I was born well before the 80s.

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**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/82 "2009-09-29T15:08:12Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> eleanorigby, notice the tone in many of the posts in this thread. Many of them are indeed very close to “them thar furrin’ types shor are stewpid fer gittin’ our burgers and fries wrong!” And this is quite typical of threads like this on the SDMB about things that are basically just personal taste. A lot of people think that it’s necessary (and that it’s hilarious, to judge by the smilies they throw in) to imply that anyone who disagrees with their own tastes is stupid or crazy or lacking in taste buds or something.

Humorous reversal is quite entirely the point of this thread. Normally, when someone criticizes, say, ahem _Olive Garden_ one of the reasons is that it claims to 'Italian" cuisine but it isn’t authentic.

In this thread, we ponder the ways in which American cuisine is served inauthentically overseas. it doesn’t mean they are lacking in tastebuds - it means they are either clueless, lack access to the proper ingredients, or just prefer something different in that locale. Either way it is funny to see what gets passed off as “American.”

After all, there categorically is a proper way to serve American cuisine. People can put whatever they want a burger, but if they are billing themselves (or god forbid, themeing themselves) as “American” there better not be any ham in that burger. If you put Kimchee in your jambalaya, it might be good but it isn’t authentic. If you don’t put any eggs or sugar or spices in your pumpkin pie, it’s hilariously bad AND not authentic.

It’s all about poking fun at the _marketing_ with occasional guffaws over the actual food.

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/83 "2009-09-29T15:21:56Z")

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> [@GreedySmurf](#):
>
> How else do you ensure the meat binds together? (I’m genuinely curious - if you don’t use an egg how do you make the mince bind so it doesn’t fall apart when cooking?)

I suspect you’re not using fatty enough mince if you have problems with it falling apart. The one time I tried to make burgers in Greece this was the case; the ground beef there was incredibly lean.

The best burgers are made with mince/ground beef that is only 70-80% lean. The fat keeps 'em together.

Now, a question for you: how does the beetroot work on burgers? I love burgers, and I love beet(roots)s, and I’d like to try them together. I’m assuming it’s not just a big slab of raw beet. Are they pickled beets? Or just cooked? One big piece, or diced up, or what? I must try this.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/84 "2009-09-29T16:45:14Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> eleanorigby, notice the tone in many of the posts in this thread. Many of them are indeed very close to “them thar furrin’ types shor are stewpid fer gittin’ our burgers and fries wrong!” And this is quite typical of threads like this on the SDMB about things that are basically just personal taste. A lot of people think that it’s necessary (and that it’s hilarious, to judge by the smilies they throw in) to imply that anyone who disagrees with their own tastes is stupid or crazy or lacking in taste buds or something.

Is it such a tragedy if this were even the case? Lord knows most of Europe looks down its collective noses at our cuisine (or did). It’s a bit of harmless culture bashing. Do you expect an International Incident of some sort?

Case in point: I, personally, think Mexican cuisine tastes like garbage. (waits for all those who now cry, "you’ve never had REAL Mexican food!). Well, yes I have and I still can’t stand it. That doesn’t mean I’m anti-Mexico. But it also means that if for some reason, I were to try to cook in the Mexican style, I would mess it up to an incredible degree. I don’t “understand” it for lack of a better way to explain it. The people here aren’t even expressing that they have strong feelings against another culture, just that some cultures can’t translate the subtleties of flavor, mouth-feel and texture that make up American food. I wouldn’t expect a Chinese cook in Shangai to understand cheesy fries or chocolate pudding, but I would derive some mild amusement of what s/he came up with. Obviously, YMDV.  
That Chicago style pizza place in London was called (no idea if it still exists) The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory, IMS. My brother brought me back a souvenir glass from there when he first went to London waaay back in the day. He said it was pretty good.

I have to say that when I travel, I rarely eat “American” food. I try to eat the country’s food. (now who’s the snob? 😉 ).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/85 "2009-09-29T17:42:52Z")

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Again with Japan-

Denny’s and Coco’s were the only places open for breakfast that weren’t in our hotel so we ate at those places quite a bit. It was kind of typical American food via game of telephone.

I really enjoyed Johnnie’s restaurant which felt like a mix between Denny’s and TGIFridays.

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**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/86 "2009-09-29T21:45:45Z")

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> [@Athena](#):
>
> Now, a question for you: how does the beetroot work on burgers?.

Top the burger with a slice of pickled beets. It basically takes the place of pickles as the sour component, while adding a gentle sweetness.

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**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/87 "2009-09-29T23:37:47Z")

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> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> The only ketchup I’ve seen here in Korea (and honestly, I haven’t been looking very hard) has been at McDonalds, Burger King and Lotteria (a local chain that beats the pants off them quality-wise).

Lotteria is actually a Japanese chain, and I thought they were pretty bad. Maybe they’re better in Korea, but there was a Lotteria practically next door to my apartment in Japan and I still avoided it in favor of the MOS Burger or McDonalds that were farther away.

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**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/88 "2009-09-29T23:58:48Z")

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> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#):
>
> **GreedySmurf** : It is a violation of our rules to modify anything within the quote-tags, other than standard editing (ellipses, square brackets, etc.) For full details, please see: [FAQL Rules for Posting on the Straight Dope Message Boards](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=384736) and note Post #11 in that thread: [Can I modify other poster’s quotes?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697048#post7697048).
> 
> I have removed the quote-tags in your post (#65 in this thread) and replaced them with quotation marks. When you want to paraphrase someone, or to amend their words to something completely different, that’s the way to go. When you use quote-tags, others have the expectation that you are quoting exactly.
> 
> No warning this time, but please don’t do this again.

My most humbliest apologies.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/89 "2009-09-30T00:16:16Z")

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> [@Athena](#):
>
> I suspect you’re not using fatty enough mince if you have problems with it falling apart. The one time I tried to make burgers in Greece this was the case; the ground beef there was incredibly lean.
> 
> The best burgers are made with mince/ground beef that is only 70-80% lean. The fat keeps 'em together.
> 
> Now, a question for you: how does the beetroot work on burgers? I love burgers, and I love beet(roots)s, and I’d like to try them together. I’m assuming it’s not just a big slab of raw beet. Are they pickled beets? Or just cooked? One big piece, or diced up, or what? I must try this.

Yeah when I’m talking about Beetroot it is effectively pickled beetroot (I presume they use vinegar - I’ll have to check the ingredients on a tin of it tonight). One of the most common ways to buy beetroot in Australia is a tin of sliced (pickled) beetroot.

And yep basically we’re talking about adding a slice of beetroot to the burger along with the other salad items. Personally it’s lettuce, tomato and a slice or two of beetroot.

Hope that helps.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/90 "2009-09-30T02:31:54Z")

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> [@Lamia](#):
>
> Lotteria is actually a Japanese chain, and I thought they were pretty bad. Maybe they’re better in Korea, but there was a Lotteria practically next door to my apartment in Japan and I still avoided it in favor of the MOS Burger or McDonalds that were farther away.

Lotteria is part of the [Lotte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_%28conglomerate%29) conglomerate (Lotte Mart, Lotte Department Stores, Lotte Giant, etc.) which does business in Japan but is headquartered in Korea. Lotteria food might not stack up against the best burger joints in America, but if you’re in Korea and have a choice between Lotteria, McDonald’s and Burger King in Korea, pick Lotteria.

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/91 "2009-09-30T03:12:32Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Top the burger with a slice of pickled beets. It basically takes the place of pickles as the sour component, while adding a gentle sweetness.

> [@GreedySmurf](#):
>
> Yeah when I’m talking about Beetroot it is effectively pickled beetroot (I presume they use vinegar - I’ll have to check the ingredients on a tin of it tonight). One of the most common ways to buy beetroot in Australia is a tin of sliced (pickled) beetroot.
> 
> And yep basically we’re talking about adding a slice of beetroot to the burger along with the other salad items. Personally it’s lettuce, tomato and a slice or two of beetroot.
> 
> Hope that helps.

Thank you both, yes, it helps.

As far as I know, you can’t buy pickled beet(root) in the US. At least, I’ve never seen it. However, my mother makes 'em for me with regularity (and I suppose I could make it myself, it’s super easy, but she’s all trained and brings it over and so I don’t have to worry about it… why mess with a system that works?)

The only problem is that they’re small, like maybe 1.5-2" across. That’s about 4-5 centimeters for you metric people. Not nearly big enough to go across a whole burger. Do the pickled beetroot… er, does the pickled beetroot (is that a plural or not? sheesh, talk about separated by a shared language!) come larger in Australia? Or do you use a bunch of them, like we do with cucumber pickle slices on burgers here in the US?

I don’t know why this is so damned important to me today, but it is!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/92 "2009-09-30T03:47:41Z")

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> [@Athena](#):
>
> Thank you both, yes, it helps.
> 
> As far as I know, you can’t buy pickled beet(root) in the US. At least, I’ve never seen it. However, my mother makes 'em for me with regularity (and I suppose I could make it myself, it’s super easy, but she’s all trained and brings it over and so I don’t have to worry about it… why mess with a system that works?)
> 
> The only problem is that they’re small, like maybe 1.5-2" across. That’s about 4-5 centimeters for you metric people. Not nearly big enough to go across a whole burger. Do the pickled beetroot… er, does the pickled beetroot (is that a plural or not? sheesh, talk about separated by a shared language!) come larger in Australia? Or do you use a bunch of them, like we do with cucumber pickle slices on burgers here in the US?
> 
> I don’t know why this is so damned important to me today, but it is!

If that’s the size you can get, just layer it on, as you say like the pickle slices.

The canned beetroot we get does tend to be a fair bit bigger, the biggest slice through the middle of the beetroot is often ~10-12 cms. (~4 inches) so one slice of that size can easily cover a roll. But within the can obviously will be slices from the ends which get down to 2 inches or less.

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**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/93 "2009-09-30T03:48:24Z")

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> [@Yossarian](#):
>
> I had lunch at an American-style restaurant in Madrid called “Nebraska”. Simply terrible.

I saw that place when I was in Madrid! Didn’t go in, though, I had already been exposed to the Spanish idea of American food. The most notable examples were an “American” pizza with ketchup and ground beef and hamburgers consisting of a single patty between two pieces of french bread.

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**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/94 "2009-09-30T04:02:00Z")

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> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> Lotteria is part of the [Lotte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_%28conglomerate%29) conglomerate (Lotte Mart, Lotte Department Stores, Lotte Giant, etc.) which does business in Japan but is headquartered in Korea. Lotteria food might not stack up against the best burger joints in America, but if you’re in Korea and have a choice between Lotteria, McDonald’s and Burger King in Korea, pick Lotteria.

The Lotte company was founded in japan in 1948. The world’s very first Lotteria fast food joint was opened in Japan in 1972.

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**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/95 "2009-09-30T04:23:50Z")

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> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> Lotteria is part of the [Lotte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte_%28conglomerate%29) conglomerate (Lotte Mart, Lotte Department Stores, Lotte Giant, etc.) which does business in Japan but is headquartered in Korea.

Something tells me you did not read your own cite.

> [@](#):
>
> \*Lotteria food might not stack up against the best burger joints in America, but if you’re in Korea and have a choice between Lotteria, McDonald’s and Burger King in Korea, pick Lotteria.

\*Like I said, I don’t know how good Lotteria is in Korea (or how bad McDonald’s is there for that matter), but in my experience Japanese McDonald’s beats Japanese Lotteria by a wide margin. And I say this as someone with no particular fondness for McDonald’s.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/96 "2009-09-30T08:07:51Z")

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The food isn’t horrible (although hummus, naturally, appears as a side dish), but for sheer incongruousness, you can’t beat the [Elvis Inn](http://www.tourwise.co.il/virtualTours/?tour=365_HE&p_win=1), outside Jerusalem.

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**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/97 "2009-09-30T10:13:53Z")

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Most “Mexican” restaurants I’ve been to in Taiwan have a particular quirk about “nachos”. When I order nachos, I’m picturing a big table basket of warm, fresh, crispy, just-baked tortilla-based flavorocity (for FREE!) just ready for dunking in salsa like we get in Texas. Imagine how I feel when I am presented a small, room temperature plate of about ten Doritos lined up around a plate, surrounding a small dollop of sour cream in the center. Which costs EIGHT US DOLLARS. And when I say Doritos, I mean that literally: they ARE Doritos, just dumped from a bag and covered with that nasty faux-chili powder, which the restaurant probably just bought from the 7-Eleven across the street.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/98 "2009-09-30T14:59:47Z")

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> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> … I once ordered a pepperoni pizza at a Pizza Hut in Frankfurt, Germany. Unfortunately, “pepperoni” in that part of the world means “long green banana peppers”, not “small thin slices of cured meat”.

Actually, pepperoni are hot peppers, as opposed to the normal mild bell peppers.

> [@\[Wikipedia](#):
>
> ([Pepperoni - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepperoni))]The term pepperoni is a corruption of peperoni, the Italian plural of peperone. While in Italian peperoni refers to bell peppers, in Italian-American cuisine the word “pepperoni” evolved to indicate a kind of spicy sausage.
> 
> To order the American version of pepperoni in Italy, someone would request salame piccante or salamino piccante (hot salami, generally typical of Calabria). The Italian name for a pepperoni pizza is pizza alla diavola (with hot sausages).
> 
> Throughout continental Europe, peperone is a common word for various types of capsicum including bell peppers and a small, spicy and often pickled pepper known as peperoncino or peperone piccante in Italy and pepperoncini or banana peppers in the U.S.

Think of all the European tourists who expect some nice hot peppers and get meat in the US!

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/99 "2009-09-30T15:03:59Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> You know, a lot of the posts in this thread seem to be saying, “Hey, I tried some food item in a foreign country that was supposed to be a typically American item, but they really missed it up. Boy, they must really be stupid there if they can’t make that item right.” This assumes that they want the item to be just like the American version. On the contrary, I suspect that the restaurant owners tried the item in the U.S. and said, “You know, this is almost a good idea, but I’m going to have to make some changes in it.” So when they serve it in their restaurant in the foreign country, they changed it by adding or deleting things in it, changing the spices in it, and changing the way it was cooked. They know perfectly well that their version is much different from the typical American version, and they prefer their version. Their customers in the foreign country probably also prefer their version. This isn’t to say that either the original American version or the foreign adaptation is better, just that they are different for good reasons.

That’s probably a large reason - if they adapt a foreign dish to the taste of the new country, they can sell it to the natives instead of the tourists. For example, although we have real Italy right next door, Italian restaurants in Germany make pizza different from at home (less spice, less garlic), because that’s how Germans want it.

There’s the story that when the Eastern bloc fell, and McD went there, the Poles were upset that McD used Russian potatoes for their fries - they wanted to help the Polish farmers, not subsidize the Russian farmers.

And in India, you of course can’t sell as many burgers from cow meat as from a different meat…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-restaurants-that-fail-at-american-cuisine/511559/100 "2009-09-30T16:01:13Z")

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> [@Lamia](#):
>
> Something tells me you did not read your own cite.

You mean the part where they say it was founded in Japan by a Korean businessman, whose Korean family still controls it? Or the part where they compared the Korean and Japanese operations?

> [@](#):
>
> Lotte group’s headquarters are located in Seoul and Tokyo. It is controlled by the founder Shin Kyuk-Ho’s family.
> 
> ```
> * Lotte of Korea employs 56,369 with a revenue of 41 trillion won in 2008 and has 53 companies[1] in South Korea
> * Lotte of Japan employs 3,600 with a revenue of 448 billion yen in 2006
> 
> ```
> 
> LOTTE Group’s total assets are approximately 50 billion USD ( LOTTE Korea $40 Billion, LOTTE Japan $10 Billion).

Here’s how Wikipedia describes [Lotte’s various divisions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotte):

> [@](#):
>
> ```
> * Lotte (conglomerate), an East Asian industrial conglomerate
> o Lotte Capital, a Korean financial company
> o Lotte Card, a Korean credit card provider
> o Lotte Chilsung, a South Korean manufacturer of food products
> o Lotte Confectionery, a South Korean company
> o Lotte Department Store, a Korean retail company
> o Lotte Giants, a professional baseball team in Busan, Korea
> o Lotte World, a recreation complex in Seoul, South Korea
> o Chiba Lotte Marines, a professional baseball team in Japan's Pacific League.
> 
> ```

I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to describe Lotte as primarily a Korean entity that does a lot of business in Japan. You’re right about the first Lotteria being in Japan, though.

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